After solving the oil cooler duct situation, there were a thousand tiny things to finish but none of them are very interesting.
The engine baffles had to go on. Van’s Aircraft produces a very nice kit but a lot of time is still required. Getting them fit to the engine is one thing, getting them fit to the cowling is another! The baffles start very oversize. Getting them fit to the cowling involves putting the cowling on and trying to see where the baffle and cowl are touching, take the cowling off, trim the baffle, then put the cowling back on and repeat. This takes about 839 interations.
These photos show that process mid-way thru. The baffles are still far too large and I am working them down in size.
In this photo, the baffles are completely trimmed.
A couple fun little bits includes this modification to allow some additional air to flow around what ends up being a blocked space when the baffle is installed.
The little black thing here is where two spark plug wires feed thru. This is a part that a modeled and then 3D printed from ABS filament.
Once that is done, you get to install the rubber seal material to form an air tight seal. Same as above – lots of iterations, lots of time.
The filtered air box is much less annoying but it too requires the cowling to go on and come off a bunch of times – to get the air inlet “snorkel” aligned correctly. It seems that I didn’t take many photos of the air box. You can see it in the following photo hanging from the bottom of the carb.
And the cheeks… I don’t think I’ve mentioned the cheeks….
The RV-4 has some sexy cheeks that taper back on the fuselage. My old ones did not fit the new cowling so old had to go, new had to be fit, painted, and installed. More kinda boring tasks but in the end, they looked pretty good!! OH… come to think of it, this side was extra work because the new cheek fits in a different place and that left some unpainted portions of the fuselage exposed. So, had to prepare and paint a section of the fuselage so it all looked good.
So… we must be nearing the end right?? One would certainly hope so!!
Is that baffle metal aluminum? How are you bending and folding and cutting that stuff? Is your hanger now a machine shop?
Hi Pete! Yes, it’s aluminum. My dentist doesn’t like it but I find using my teeth yeilds the best results. 😉
Seriously, I do have some sheet metal tools but wish I had a decent brake and sheer. Given the used prices, I’d say everyone else wishes the same.